Feds investigate possible terrorist-attack links in Fla.

MIAMI -- Two men who came to Florida for flight training school a year ago emerged as suspects Wednesday in the FBI investigation into the terror attacks in New York and Washington.

Charlie Voss, a former employee at Huffman Aviation in Venice, said FBI agents told him the two were involved in Tuesday's airplane attack of the World Trade Center. The men had stayed briefly with Voss while attending flight school in July 2000.

Voss said one of men was named Mohamed Atta and he knew the other only as Marwan. Azzan Ali, a student at Huffman Aviation, identified the second man as Marwan Alshehhi.

FAA records show a pilot by the name of Marwan Yousef Alshehhi as having lived in Nokomis, four miles north of Venice. Another address listed for Alshehhi was tracked to a Mail Boxes Etc. postal drop in Hollywood.

Kathern Lewis, who lives at the small rental house that Alshehhi listed as his address in Nokomis, said FBI agents knocked on her door at 9 a.m. asking about former residents. ''The only thing I said to them was, 'Do you guys have any ideas who did this?' The guy said 'yes.'''

Voss said FBI agents told him authorities found a car at Boston's Logan Airport registered to two men who were once students at the Huffman school in Venice, about 60 miles south of Tampa. The two jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center were hijacked in Boston.

Voss said the two men said they had just arrived from Germany and wanted to take flight training at Huffman, which offers training in light, single-engine aircraft but not commercial jetliners. Rudy Dekkers, Huffman's president and owner, said the two men attended the school for about five months beginning in July 2000, then left to take training elsewhere.

Ali said the friends referred to each other as ''cousin,'' keeping a low profile at the school while planning to fly corporate jets in the United Arab Emirates.

''They didn't talk to anyone about anything at all,'' Ali said.

Records with the Florida Division of Motor Vehicles show that one vehicle being pursued by the FBI -- a 1989 red Pontiac -- was registered to Atta, 33, who previously had a driver's license in Egypt.

Several FBI agents later removed student files from the Florida Flight Training Center, which is down the street from Huffman Aviation and offers the same type of pilot training. School owner Arne Kruithof would not give any specific information about what the agents were seeking but said one of the files was related to a student from Tunisia.

More than 400 agents in Florida were working on the investigation and leads were ''coming in fast and furious,'' said Miami FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela.

A law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said search warrants were issued Wednesday for three Vero Beach homes and one man was taken to Miami for further questioning. FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela would not comment Wednesday.

In Coral Springs, witnesses said about 50 FBI agents and police officers Tuesday night blanketed the apartment complex that Atta had listed on his Florida driver's license. Officers interviewed neighbors and showed a black-and-white mug-style photograph with the name Mohamed at the bottom.

Agents in Hollywood showed employees at a downtown restaurant, Shuckums, photos of two men Tuesday night. Manager Tony Amos said Wednesday he identified a man in a photo with the name Mohamed on the bottom.

Amos said that man and two others had each consumed several drinks Friday night and Mohamed told Amos he was a pilot.

''The guy Mohamed was drunk, his voice was slurred and he had a thick accent,'' Amos said.

Bartender Patricia Idrissi said the men argued over the bill, and when she asked if there was a problem, ''Mohamed said he worked for American Airlines and he could pay his bill.'' An American spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Atta received a ticket on April 26 in Broward County for failure to provide his driver's license earlier this year. His license was suspended indefinitely Aug. 23 when he failed to appear in traffic court.

FBI agents searched an apartment in Hollywood on Tuesday and late Wednesday and took out ''bags of items'' after several hours, said Lynn DeLano, the property owner. She said she did not know what was removed from the apartment.

The investigation turned elsewhere in Florida as well. In Vero Beach, about 70 miles north of West Palm Beach, FBI agents searched four homes in three neighborhoods.

Agents asked Hank Habora about a neighbor, Amer Kamfar, 41. Kamfar was licensed as a flight engineer to fly turbojets and listed a Saudi Airlines post office box as his address in FAA records.

Habora said the family moved into the house in February and moved out abruptly in recent days.